Department for Education

Disability and Special Educational Needs: Qualifications

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask His Majesty's Government when the proposed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities NPQ course will commence.

Baroness Barran: The department is currently developing the transition arrangements for introducing the National Professional Qualification for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators as the new mandatory qualification for those in the role.All arrangements, including those around the delivery and start dates, will be communicated in the coming months.

Disability and Special Educational Needs

Lord Addington: To ask His Majesty's Government how the new level 3 SENCO qualification will be able to influence the teaching profession as a whole to make reasonable adjustments for pupils with special education needs and disabilities across schools in England.

Baroness Barran: The Early Years Recovery Programme includes funding for training of up to 5,000 early years Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), leading to an accredited Level 3 early years SENCO qualification. The training is for SENCOs currently working in early years group-based providers or working as childminders. SENCOs working in schools are subject to different requirements. They must be a qualified teacher, and must achieve the masters-level National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination within 3 years of appointment as a SENCO.

Disability and Special Educational Needs: Disability Aids

Lord Addington: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they haveto ensure through ongoing continual professional development that all teachers and support staff are made aware of potential benefits, and given some instruction of, the implementation of assistive technology for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Baroness Barran: The department is expanding training to increase school staff confidence in using assistive technology (AT). Following the promising results of our initial pilot, we are extending assistive technology training to a further 150 maintained schools. The extension, known as the ‘AT Test and Learn’ programme, will teach mainstream school staff how to use AT effectively, with a focus on the technology schools already have available or can easily obtain, such as text-to-speech tools. It will build on last year’s pilot by training more schools over a longer period and with more impact data to gain a fuller picture of how AT training can support wider Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, continuing professional development.

Schools: Blasphemy

Lord Godson: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new blasphemy guidance being developed by the Home Office and the Department for Education will be legally binding upon schools; how they are planning to make schools aware of their new responsibilities under that guidance; and how that guidance will be enforced.

Baroness Barran: In response to recent incidents, the Government has been clear that there is no blasphemy law in the UK. The Department has no plans to produce specific guidance on blasphemy for schools.Head teachers are best placed to make the decisions on how to meet the needs of their pupils. In doing so, there are a range of considerations, supported by existing departmental guidance. This includes ensuring political impartiality and promoting respect and tolerance between people of different faiths and beliefs.

Department of Health and Social Care

Cystic Fibrosis

Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the House of Commons Health Committee Report NHS Charges, published on 6 July 2006, that when the medical exemptions list was created in 1968, most babies born with Cystic Fibrosis did not live beyond childhood; and what assessment they have made of the case for extending eligibility for medical exemption certificates to patients with Cystic Fibrosis to access life-saving drugs.

Lord Markham: No specific assessment has been made. The medical exemptions list was last reviewed in 2009, when cancer was added, and there are no plans to extend the prescription charge medical exemptions list to include cystic fibrosis. Approximately 89% of prescription items are currently dispensed free of charge and there are a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place, for which those with cystic fibrosis may meet the eligibility criteria and be in receipt of free prescriptions. In addition, those on a low income can apply for additional support through the NHS Low Income Scheme. This provides both full and partial help with a range of health costs, not just prescription charges. Those who do not qualify for low-income help, may benefit from the purchase of a prescription pre-payment certificate. This caps the cost of prescriptions at £111.60 per year, helping people to get all the medicines they need for just over £2 a week.

Treasury

First Time Buyers: Government Assistance

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey are taking to provide support to first-time buyers by the end of 2023.

Baroness Penn: The Government remains committed to making the aspiration of homeownership a reality for as many households as possible. We operate a range of schemes that aim to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages for credit-worthy households, including first-time buyers, increase the availability of new housing, and stimulate economic growth. These include the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which is open until the end of 2023 as well as First Homes and Shared Ownership through the Affordable Homes Programme. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy: ISA. We are also investing £11.5 billion to build more of the affordable, quality homes this country needs. Over 829,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since Spring 2010 through Government-backed schemes, with the annual number of first-time buyers at a 20-year high in 2021. We have also cut Stamp Duty Land Tax, doubling the threshold at which SDLT becomes due from £125,000 to £250,000 and expanding First-Time Buyers Relief raising the threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable from £300,000 to £425,000. The maximum property value on which First Time Buyers Relief can be claimed has also been lifted from £500,000 to £625,000. These will apply until 31 March 2025 to support the property market.

Individual Savings Accounts: Older People

Baroness Altmann: To ask His Majesty's Government what recent estimate they have made of howmany people over the age of 60 have ISAs in the UK; and what is the (1) total, and (2) average, value of those ISAs.

Baroness Penn: The latest information is available in Hansard under reference HL1263, which gives this specific breakdown for the 2019 to 2020 tax year. Breakdowns of ISAs by age bands for tax year 2020 to 2021 will be published in HMRC’s Annual savings statistics in June 2023. These statistics show ISA breakdowns for individuals aged over 65.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Kazakhstan: Russia

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the remarks of the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 18 March that the UK’s relationship with Kazakhstan has “great growth potential”, what assessment they have made of Kazakhstan’s support for Russia’s evasion of sanctions.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK Government welcomes the public commitments made by the Government of Kazakhstan that it will not be a back door for sanctions evasion. The measures that Kazakhstan is implementing to prevent sanctions circumvention have been part of our bilateral dialogue over the last year. Senior officials from the FCDO sanctions team are visiting Kazakhstan this month to discuss sanctions enforcement with the Kazakh Government. We look forward to ongoing close consultation in this area.